1996 in sports

Table of contents

1 Auto Racing 2 Baseball 3 Basketball 4 Boxing 5 Cricket 6 Cycling 7 Field Hockey 8 Figure Skating 9 Football (Soccer) 10 Football (American) 11 Canadian Football League 12 Golf 13 Thoroughbred Horse Racing 14 Harness Racing 15 Ice Hockey 16 Skiing 17 Tennis 18 General sporting events 19 Births 20 Deaths

Auto Racing

• Stock car racing:
  • Dale Jarrett won the Daytona 500
• NASCAR Championship - Terry Labonte
• Indy Racing League - Mike Groff wins inaugural IRL championship
  • Indianapolis 500 - Buddy Lazier
• CART - Jimmy Vasser won the season championship
• Formula One Championship - Damon Hill of Great Britain
• 24 hours of Le Mans: won by the team of Manuel Reuter / Davy Jones / Alexander Wurz driving a TWR-Porsche
• Rally racing - Tommi Mäkinen won the World Rally Championship
  • the team of Patrick Bernardini / Bernard Occelli won the Monte Carlo Rally driving a Ford Escort RS Cosworth
• Drag racing - Kenny Bernstein won the NHRA "Top Fuel" championship.
• November 24 - Rusty Wallace wins the Suzuka NASCAR Thunder 100 racing event at Suzuka Circuitland in Suzuka City (this was the first NASCAR competition held in Japan).

• World Series: New York Yankees won 4 games to 2 over the Atlanta Braves. The Series MVP was relief pitcher, John Wetteland, New York

Basketball

• NCAA Men's Basketball Championship:
  • Kentucky wins 76-67 over Syracuse

• NBA Finals:
  • Chicago Bulls win 4 games to 2 over the Seattle Supersonics, after a record-breaking 72-10 regular season.

• March 16 - Christy Martin defeats Deirdre Gogarty by a decision in six rounds to retain her Women's boxing world title in front of a national tv audience. This fight is credited with making the general public aware of women's boxing.

• June 7 - Oscar De La Hoya defeats Julio Cesar Chavez by a knockout in four rounds to win the WBC's world Jr. Welterweight championship.

• Cricket World Cup - Final: Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets

• Giro d'Italia won by Pavel Tonkov of Russia
• Tour de France - Bjarne Riis of Denmark
• World Cycling Championship: Johan Museeuw of Belgium

• December 7 - 15 - Champions Trophy held for the first time in India at Chennai.

• World Figure Skating Championships:
  • Men's champion: Todd Eldredge, United States
  • Women's champion: Michelle Kwan, United States
  • Pairs champions: Marina Eltsowa & Sergej Buschkow, Russia

• England - FA Cup: Manchester United won 1-0 over Liverpool
• Major League Soccer Kicks-Off: On April 6th an overflow crowd of 31,683 packed Spartan Stadium to witness the historic first game. San Jose Clash forward Eric Wynalda scored the league's first goal in a 1-0 victory over D. C. United.

• Super Bowl XXX: Dallas Cowboys won 27-17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers

• Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts win 43-37 over the Edmonton Eskimos
• Vanier Cup: Saskatchewan Huskies win 31-12 over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men

Men's Golf

• Grand Slam of golf results:
  1. May - The Masters - Nick Faldo
  2. June - US Open - Steve Jones
  3. July - British Open - Tom Lehman
  4. August - PGA Championship - Mark Brooks

• PGA tour's leading money winner for the year: Tom Lehman - $1,780,159
• PGA Champions Tour leading money winner: Jim Colbert - $1,627,890

• Tiger Woods became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. This was the sixth consecutive year in which he won a USGA championship, one short of Bobby Jones' record of seven. In September, he turned professional. In the last five regular tournaments of the year on the PGA TOUR, his finishes were 5-3-1-3-1, placing him among the tour's top 30 money-winners for the year and thereby qualifying him for the season-ending TOUR Championship. Woods was named the PGA TOUR's Rookie of the Year.

• US Women's Open - Annika Sörenstam
• LPGA Championship - Laura Davies
• Karrie Webb is the leading money winner on the LPGA tour with earnings of $1,002,000 becoming the first ever woman to earn more than a million dollars in one golf season.

• Australia - Melbourne Cup - Saintly
• Canada - Queen's Plate - Victor Cooley
• France - Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Helissio
• Ireland - Irish Derby Stakes - Zagreb

• English Triple Crown Races:
  1. Two Thousand Guineas Stakes - Mark of Esteem
  2. Epsom Derby - Shaamit
  3. St. Leger Stakes - Shantou

• United States Triple Crown Races:
  1. Kentucky Derby - Grindstone
  2. Preakness Stakes - Louis Quatorze
  3. Belmont Stakes - Editor's Note

• The North America Cup - Arizona Jack

• United States Pacing Triple Crown races:
  1. Cane Pace - Scoot To Power
  2. Little Brown Jug - Armbro Operative
  3. Messenger Stakes - Go For Grins

• United States Trotting Triple Crown races:
  1. Hambletonian - Continentalvictory
  2. Yonkers Trot - Continentalvictory
  3. Kentucky Futurity - Running Sea

• Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship:
  • Pacers: Young Mister Charles
  • Trotters: Pride Of Petite

• Art Ross Memorial Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Hart Memorial Trophy: for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins

• Stanley Cup - the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Florida Panthers 4 games to 0.

• World Hockey Championship
  • Men's champion: Czech Republic defeated Canada

  • Junior Men's champion: Canada defeated Sweden

• Alpine Skiing
  • The men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway
  • The women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany

• Grand Slam in tennis men's results:
  1. Australian Open - Boris Becker
  2. French Open - Yevgeny Kafelnikov
  3. Wimbledon championships - Richard Krajicek
  4. US Open - Pete Sampras

• Grand Slam in tennis women's results:
  1. Australian Open - Monica Seles
  2. French Open - Steffi Graf
  3. Wimbledon championships - Steffi Graf
  4. US Open - Steffi Graf

• Davis Cup: France won 3-2 over Sweden in world tennis.

• Embassy World Snooker Championship:
  • Stephen Hendry won 18-12 over Peter Ebdon

• Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion:
  • Jeff King won with lead dogs: Jake & Booster

• May 11 - Rodney Culver, 26, San Diego Chargers running back, died in a plane crash